Exposing how tasers, when abused, can become a high tech torture instrument.
Asking the question should
the penalty for resisting arrest be death?

Our plan, to track all incidents of taser torture against black folks....

Have you or a member of your family ever been tasered by the police? Was it reported in the newspaper, police report, or other news outlet? Write: TasedWhileBlack@gmail.com and tell us what happened. Want to make a donation to Tasered While Black? Write us at: TasedWhileBlack@gmail.com We will be glad to hear from you.

Thursday, January 31, 2008

A rapist posing as a cop punched a pregnant woman in the stomach and Tased her before sexually assaulting the woman for more than an hour, according to the Broward Sheriff's Office.

The attacker remains at large.

A police sketch of the man who attacked a pregnant woman Jan. 24 in Broward.

BSO is looking for a man 30 to 40 years old, roughly six-feet, three-inches tall, weighing 180 pounds with big eyes, a bald head and a slight mustache. He is black, has one gold tooth in the front and wore several gold rings.

''It's horrifying,'' said Keyla Concepcion, a BSO spokeswoman. ``Not only was she afraid for her own life, but for that of her unborn child.''

Authorities say the man approached the 22-year-old woman, who was waiting for a bus in Lauderdale Lakes, on Jan. 24.

The man produced a police badge and told the woman, who has a son and is also two to three months pregnant, that she was being truant. She insisted that she was an adult, but he pulled her into a dark green, older model Ford Explorer that was parked nearby.

The man drove her to an apartment complex in Lauderhill, then told her she must join him inside. He then handcuffed her and took her up to the apartment. More HERE

Monday, January 21, 2008

Source: the news tribune.comThe city of Lakewood has settled a lawsuit brought by a man who said police officers shot him with a stun gun and roughed him up because he refused to submit to medical aid after suffering an epileptic seizure.

William Grider and his wife, Kathy, agreed to drop their personal injury suit against the city, the Police Department, Chief Larry Saunders and four police officers in exchange for $90,000 and the city’s promise to implement a new policy dictating when officers can use Tasers on people.

City officials signed the settlement agreement last month.

The city admitted no wrongdoing, and police officials said last week that their officers acted appropriately during their interaction with Grider.

“The decision on how to best settle the matter of the lawsuit was made by our insurance provider,” Lakewood police spokesman Lt. Dave Guttu said in an e-mail. “We accept their decision without any fault on our part.”

Guttu also said the Taser policy changes cited in the settlement were not a direct result of the Griders’ legal action against the city.

The Griders filed a $300,000 claim against the city in May 2007, then sued in September in Pierce County Superior Court. The case later was moved to U.S. District Court at the request of city attorneys, who argued the Griders’ complaints concerned constitutional issues better heard in federal court.

Police officials had been working on an update to the department’s rules on stun guns for nearly a year before the Griders filed their claim, Guttu said.

The department’s revised policy on the use of Tasers – which went into effect Jan. 1 – now requires officers to consider whether someone might suffer from a medical condition like multiple sclerosis, muscular dystrophy or epilepsy before they shock them with stun guns.

“In such cases, the need to stop the behavior should clearly justify the potential for additional risks,” the policy states.

The previous policy warned officers only against using Tasers on pregnant women. More HERE

Note:

Tasered While Black Publisher says: This may be the way to go for black folks who get Tasered While Black, and the police are at fault. Sue them, get paid, and get the city, county or sheriff's tasering and training changed at the same time.

The Lawrence Police Department wants to start a pilot project that could lead to all patrol officers carrying Tasers.

Check out their draft Taser Policy

The purpose of this policy is to provide officers with guidance and direction on the use of electronic control devices.

It is the policy of the Lawrence Police Department to use only that level of force that is reasonably necessary to prevent harm to an officer or another person or to effect a lawful arrest.ECDs may be used by authorized and trained personnel in accordance with the use of force policy and additional guidelines established herein. Link to Proposed city policy for Taser use

Sunday, January 20, 2008

Last February Irshad Amhed was stopped by officers in the Entertainment District. Police smashed his car window, tasered him and dragged him and his passengers out of the vehicle before charging him with resisting arrest. But Amhed is fighting that charge, and he has some strong evidence on his side. Amhed called his lawyer after he was stopped by police and ended up capturing the stormy incident that followed on his attorney's voicemail.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Tasering is out of Control. A number of police are using the weapon as a toy. Check out this incident when a Shreveport police assaulted a man and was suspended for 45 days. KTBS' Exclusive surveilance video shows Carnado Brown getting tased by a Shreveport police officer.

Brown says he was working the door at Kokopelis' nightclub on July first. Police at first thought he was a customer trying to slip in, then Officer Ryan Robinson came out of the group and, without warning, tased him.

The video shows the officer look around to make sure fellow officers aren't watching. They weren't, but the camera was.

The police department suspended Robinson for 45 days, but no criminal charges were filed.

Police spokesperson Kacee Hargrave won't discuss personnel matters, but we have learned that Robinson has since served his suspension and is back to patrol. But it's Brown's understanding he's not patroling the downtown nightclub district.

Wednesday, January 16, 2008

TASER International Receives Follow-On Orders from Law Enforcement Agencies

Las Vegas Metro Police Department and An Overseas Purchase

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Jan. 16, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- TASER International, Inc. (Nasdaq:TASR), the market leader in advanced electronic control devices, today announced that it received two significant orders from law enforcement agencies. The first order received was from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department in Las Vegas, NV, for 300 TASER(r) X26(tm) Electronic Control Devices (ECDs) and related accessories. The second order received was from several law enforcement agencies within a foreign country for a total of 200 TASER(r) X26(tm) ECDs and related accessories.

"We are pleased to see these two orders, from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and the overseas order," commented Tom Smith, Chairman and Founder of TASER International. "The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department continues to expand its TASER program to get more TASER units to the patrol level officers which continues the patrol level expansions that we have seen over the past several years with major agencies. The foreign order follows a continued expansion from the successful deployments of our TASER technology in that country. We anticipate that the growing number of TASER devices being used may result in fewer injuries to officers and suspects, reduce excessive use of force claims, and serve as a valuable tool throughout these agencies to protect life," concluded Smith.

The two orders were received and will ship in the first quarter of 2008.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

CORUNNA -- Former Lennon Police Chief Christopher Hall was sentenced to jail, probation and community service today on a charge stemming from an assault on a man with an electroshock weapon.

Shiawassee County Circuit Judge Gerald Lostracco sentenced Hall to 30 months on probation and four months in the Shiawassee County Jail on a count of attempted possession of a Taser, a maximum two-year prison offense.

Lostracco said Hall must serve the first 45 days in jail beginning Monday. The balance of the jail term could be held in abeyance if Hall complies with requirements set by the court.

Hall, 49, was charged in October with two counts of unlawful possess of a Taser, a maximum 4-year felony, steming form an Aug. 14 incident in which he used the device on a man in a patrol car. More HERE

Just after 1:00 a.m., following a late-night game of basketball in August 2006, Aaron Claxton and his cousin, Leroy Gibbs, now both 22, drove to Claxton's house in North Seattle. As they drove through the backstreets of Claxton's quiet Lake City neighborhood, a black Chevy Suburban followed close behind. According to court documents, as Claxton pulled into his garage, the Suburban sped up and pulled in front of the house. The two young men ran inside, followed by four men with guns, court documents say. Moments later, Claxton shook uncontrollably and fell to the ground as he was repeatedly Tasered. "Police! Roll over or I will Taser you again!" Claxton heard one of the men say.

According to police reports, Claxton drew the attention of one of the Seattle Police Department's undercover Anti-Crime Teams (ACT)—undercover units that handle street-level crime—as it patrolled North Seattle. According to the report, Claxton sped through the neighborhood and failed to stop at a stop sign. Minutes after officers allegedly witnessed Claxton's erratic driving, the young man found himself on the receiving end of an officer's Taser. He would also later be charged with obstruction, as well as cited for speeding and running a stop sign.

Now, more than a year later, all charges against Claxton—who is black—have been dropped because, court records say, of a "lack of proof." He has filed suit in federal court for false arrest, malicious prosecution, violation of constitutional rights, and assault.

This isn't the first time the SPD has been to court over alleged misconduct. Ever since a wheelchair-bound man accused two officers of roughing him up and planting evidence last January, the SPD has been besieged by very public and frequent accusations of misconduct. The wrongful arrest of a young photographer, and the multiple Taserings of Carl Sandidge ["Gil's Boys," Jonah Spangenthal-Lee, July 5] are just a few of the cases—typically involving young black men—that have captured headlines and the attention of local attorneys, civil-rights groups, and even the FBI.

Perhaps one of the most widely known cases is that of Maikoiyo Alley-Barnes, who was beaten by police in front of a Capitol Hill nightclub in 2005 ["Face Off," Darrin Burgess, April 21, 2005]. Alley-Barnes filed a lawsuit against the city, and in November the SPD paid him a settlement of $180,000.

According to data from SPD's Office of Professional Accountability (OPA)—which investigates citizen complaints against officers—there hasn't been a surge in reports of misconduct. However, those with grievances may be looking elsewhere for help. James Bible, president of the Seattle-King County chapter of the NAACP and a vocal critic of the Seattle Police Department, says his organization receives complaints about officer misconduct every week, and the number of complaints it receives is growing. More HERE

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

Tasered While Black says: Seems there is a Tasered While Black and On Crack problem in America

Man dies after officers used Taser to subdue him

Source: The Associated PressFAYETTEVILLE, N.C.

Authorities say a man who told police he had overdosed on crack cocaine died after Fayetteville police used a Taser to restrain him.

Police said Wednesday that officers responding to an early morning business alarm found 36-year-old Otis Anderson. Authorities said the man became combative and that officers twice shot him with a Taser to subdue him.

Medics attended to Anderson, but he stopped breathing and was later pronounced dead. Authorities said the man had told an officer that he had overdosed on crack cocaine. More HERE

Ocala, Florida, USA - Four Ocala police officers have been cleared of allegations by a city resident involving excessive force, obscene or inappropriate language, conduct unbecoming of an officer and falsifying a police report in connection with an August incident.

Jeffrey Shields, 49, was stunned with a Taser by one of the officers when he refused to drop a copy of the Quran - the Muslim holy book sometimes spelled "Koran" - that was hidden under his shirt. Shields also said he was kicked in the head.

The officers were cleared by a three-member panel at the Police Department, according to an Internal Affairs report released on Tuesday. Officers cleared in Taser incident

Though Shields wrote a statement that triggered a probe in the incident, which occurred in the early hours of Aug. 31, he didn't give an oral statement to the investigative team that looked into the matter. Police officials said the department contacted him twice to arrange appointments, but he was a no-show.

The case was assigned to Internal Affairs on Sept. 20 and was scheduled for completion by Nov. 1. However, an Oct. 25 e-mail addressed to Deputy Chief Greg Graham stated that "due to trying to set up interviews with the complainant this investigation has been delayed."

In one instance, Capt. Keith Escaravage, head of the Internal Affairs Division, found Shields in the Star-Banner parking lot on Sept. 28, told him the department had tried to contact him for a week and would like to interview him, according to a Police Department memo. Shields said he wasn't interested until he talked with his lawyer. Escaravage asked Shields to call the office and at least set up an appointment.

Here's a summary of the incident from earlier police reports:

Shortly after 1 a.m. on Aug. 31, police received an anonymous call about a man wearing a Lakers T-shirt who had drugs and a weapon in the Parkside Gardens area.

At first, corporals Jamie Buchbinder and Philip Hazel and Patrol Officer Bernard Smith, didn't find the person. They then located Shields, who fitted the description given to them. Shields had his hands under his shirt. Not knowing what he had concealed under the jersey, officers demanded he show his hands.

Buchbinder and Hazel thought he had a weapon, according to police reports. They ordered him to drop it.

Shields, the report noted, kneeled down and stretched out on the ground. His right hand was under his shirt, while the other hand was stretched out. He then placed both hands in front of him.

When Smith went to handcuff him, Shields allegedly placed his right hand on the bulky object at his waist, which later turned out to be a copy of the Quran. Officers told Shields to remove his hand. He reportedly refused to do so, and Hazel Tased him three times. More HERE

A man died early this morning after being Tasered by Fayetteville Police Department officers.

The dead man’s name has not been released.

The State Bureau of Investigation has been called in to investigate. Fayetteville police also are conducting an internal investigation.

According to the Fayetteville police, a black male flagged down an officer at 5525 Murchison Road about 12:51 a.m. and said that he had overdosed on crack cocaine. When the officer tried to help, the subject fled.

About 10 minutes later, officers responded to 5555 Murchison Road in reference to a business alarm. According to police, it was the same man. He became combative and officers tried to Taser him, but did not strike him with both darts.More HERE

FAYETTEVILLE (WTVD) -- The State Bureau of Investigations in looking into the death of a man after being tasered by a Fayetteville Police officer.

Otis Anderson's family members say he was released from prison Sunday.

The incident between police and Anderson happened around midnight Wednesday at a convenience store on Murchison Road. More HERE

Al Sharpton's National Action Network Makes Demands To City Of Trotwood

TROTWOOD, Ohio -- The Cleveland office of the National Action Network (NAN) demanded Monday that the city of Trotwood show evidence of concrete steps to address alleged police brutality and official misconduct in the Trotwood Police Department.A news release issued by Richard Jones, president of the Cleveland NAN chapter, said if the city does not address the concerns of its citizens, the NAN is prepared to lobby the United Auto Workers and General Motors Corporation to pick another site to meet its warehousing and distribution needs. Jones said the NAN will ask that the site be somewhere besides the James Group facility in Trotwood. A groundbreaking for the facility was held in December.

"We want a real response, in terms of a written this-is-what-we're-going-to-do and how we are going to implement it plan," said Jones. "The recent incident involving the Tasering of a pregnant woman and the tasering of two 13-year-old girls on a school bus illustrates the need for immediate and desperate action."According to police reports, the girls were Tased on a Trotwood school bus in May when they allegedly refused to comply with police orders to stop fighting. In November, a pregnant woman was Tased when police said the woman also refused to follow police orders. The officer said he did not know the woman was pregnant at the time.J

ones said the Cleveland Office of the NAN has taken "the extraordinary step of purchasing stock in General Motors as means to illustrate the seriousness of the issue.

"Trotwood Public Safety Director Michael Etter told NewsCenter 7 that they have had very few complaints from citizens about the department and said that no one raised issue with the school bus case until November's tasing incident. More HERE

Sunday, January 6, 2008

What if in the shaky super power in decline, the United States of America, tottering on the brink of disaster, just what if the next turn of events was a popular mutiny against the gradual, little-charted American Counter-Revolution that has been going on for decades?

In these times in which America’s leaders threaten the planet with Armageddon, the future of man seems precarious. The violence marking American civilization—the terrorism of the state directed against its own people, its citizenry armed to the teeth and taser-armed police out of control and the government promising nuclear wars to come—threatens the rest of the world.

The perception of the hopelessness and desperation in the American air today recalls the mood in post-World War II Europe expressed by the Existentialist movement. After the massacres of civilians in Iraq and repeated American declarations of preemptive war I feel something similar to that of European writers then who wondered what poets could write about after the Holocaust and 40 million dead. In the aftermath of the destruction of whole civilizations, the Existentialists held that individual men, not governments, have to create the meanings of their own lives. Many Americans should feel something analogous today.

The writers Albert Camus and Jean Paul Sartre depicted people as free and therefore responsible for what they make of themselves. In their view that responsibility was too heavy a burden for man to bear and caused in him desperation. The human condition, which the Existentialists described, marked by fear, boredom, alienation, the absurd and the sense of nothingness, calls to mind the prevalent mood in the USA and parts of West Europe today. More HERE

This police behavior is DISGUSTING! A Black man is on the ground, on his hands and knees, immobile, and is shot with a Taser gun from behind by Seattle, WA police officers. Sure the man was initially running away (from about eight police who had him surrounded). But, when he was tasered he was on his hands and knees on the ground.

It is also clear from this video that the police pointed a Taser gun at a Black woman who was holding a cup of coffee in her hand while attempting to observe what police were doing. They continued to point the Taser gun at her until they had backed her up some twenty yards from a man who appears to be a relative of hers. (In this video, it appears that they Taser may have a red light on it, like a gun, that indicates where it is being pointed.)

It really doesn't matter how this incident started. It doesn't matter if the arrested Black man had an arrest or conviction record. It doesn't matter if he cheated at Bingo in second grade. It is simply unnecessary as a matter of police and public safety, and morally wrong, to taser people who are on their hands and knees. This constitutes torture and it has to be stopped.

Effectively, white America has introduced a new word into the modern lexicon of torture techniques, not unlike the rack, except that this tool is highly mobile:

Black Man pepper-sprayed, punched then Tased from behind by Seattle Police even after he complied with their orders and he was down on his knees.

SEATTLE - The King County Sheriff's Office is investigating a scuffle that erupted when Seattle police tried to make an arrest on New Year's Eve.

Police officers ended up using a Taser on the man who, at that time, was on his hands and knees.

A KOMO 4 News photographer captured exclusive video of the arrest as officers were struggling with Marcel Richardson. Nearly a dozen police officers and at least one firefighter chased and tackled the man. (Watch the raw video of the arrest)

Police say Richardson, 23, had a simple choice -- comply or get arrested, and he chose the latter. But Richardson's aunt claims the police took it one step too far when they didn't have to, with her nephew already on the ground.

The scuffle broke out in the packed streets near the Space Needle when a computer glitch suddenly stopped the planned fireworks, sending the excited crowds on the ground over the edge.

The footage shows Richardson being pepper-sprayed, punched then Tased from behind while he was down on his knees.

"He was beat in the back of the head with a baton, he was kicked, he was punched in the face (and) for what?" said Michelle King, his aunt.

King, who works for Seattle's Municipal Court, says she knows the justice system and is sure the officers went too far.

"To me, the police department is nothing but a licensed gang and I stand by my son. And no matter what happens after today, I'm going to stand by my son and my nephew until the end," she said.

When KOMO 4 News showed the tape to Seattle police, they shared a different take of the incident. more HERE

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

Yes, it was a Black Family vs. police over droopy pants as an estimated 20 deputies, two canine units and a police helicopter swarmed the area surrounding the mall's food court, shutting down roads, all to arrest a 52-year-old man, his 50-year-old wife and four other relatives, ages 16 to 20, Thursday evening.

Six members of a family were arrested at The Mall at Wellington Green in an incident that began benignly enough over a pair of droopy jeans but ended like a chaotic scene out of the Cops TV show. More HERE

The scene that preceded the arrival of more than 20 sheriff's deputies and a helicopter at the Mall at Wellington Green to arrest a family of six last week was a chaotic concoction of pushing, screaming, scratching, kicking and cursing that nearly resulted in multiple tasings, law enforcement records show.

A sheriff's report released Monday suggests the number of patrol cars on hand to arrest members of the Leger family could have topped 30. A police helicopter and at least two canine units also were present, according to eyewitness accounts. The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office continued to defend it's show of force.

"Officers do respond, and they respond in mass," Capt. Greg Richter said. "It's always better to have more officers than you need." According to the reports, deputies arrested 20-year-old Frantz Leger, a Florida State University business sophomore, without a disturbance after a security guard recognized him in the mall's food court around 7 p.m. and notified deputies.

In the food court's parking lot later, however, police insist his relatives then arrived and attempted to stop his arrest. The Leger family says it was the deputies who were the aggressors. Marthe Leger, Frantz's 50-year-old mother, pushed two deputies to block them from arresting and tasing her nephew who had allegedly assaulted a deputy during the fracas, according to an arrest report. She also is accused of kicking and attempting to pull away from a deputy during her arrest.

JONESBORO, GA. -- Officials at Jonesboro Middle School say police tasered an 11-year-old student Wednesday as a last resort. The incident immediately prompted an internal police investigation.Channel 2 was told the incident began after something happened at lunch to spark a verbal argument between two 6th graders. The verbal argument turned physical and a school resource officer with the Jonesboro Police Department says she had to resort to using a taser.Channel 2 cameras were rolling when police left Jonesboro Middle School with what appeared to be a male student handcuffed in the backseat.SURVEY: Tasers At School?School officials confirm that an 11-year-old, 6th grade male was tasered by a school resource officer. They say the boy was physically assaulting a female 6th grader and refused to listen to verbal commands to stop. As a last resort the officer tasered the boy twice – once to get the students separated and a second time when the boy tried to attack the girl again. More HERE

Miami-Dade police tasered a 6-year-old boy who was wielding a piece of glass in a school office and threatening to hurt himself, officials confirmed Thursday.

Police say they followed their own guidelines and only tasered the child because they were afraid he would hurt himself. But the incident has raised calls for the department tighten its policies regarding the use of the stun guns, which shoot 50,000 volts of electric current through a subject.

The incident happened on Oct. 20 at Kelsey Pharr Elementary School. The principal, Maria Mason, called 911 after the child, who has not been identified, broke a picture frame in the assistant principal's office. Then the boy began waving the piece of glass around, holding a security guard at bay.

Two Miami-Dade police officers responded, followed by a school police officer. When they got there, the boy already had a cut under his right eye and another on his hand from the glass. The three officers talked to the boy, trying to get him to put down the glass, according to a police report.

One of the officers slid a trash can to him, hoping he would throw the glass away if he didn't want to give it to any of the five adults there.

Then the officer contacted a supervisor to see if there was a policy specifically prohibiting the use of a stun gun on a child. There isn't, and the officer was told to do what she felt was necessary.

The two officers continued to try to talk to the child, who didn't respond.

Then he cut his own leg and the officers acted. One officer shocked him with the Taser while the other grabbed him, preventing him from falling on the ground.

The boy was treated by Miami-Dade Fire-Rescue at the school and taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he was committed for psychiatric evaluation. More HERE

What We Think About Taser Abuse

We are not totally against taser use as an alternative to deadly force. We are however against taser abuse by police who would use a taser on the young, elderly, pregnant or physically frail; people offering passive, rather than active resistance; and restrained prisoners. The publisher of this blog is available to conduct presentations on the issue of taser use for police agencies, governmental bodies, and groups in the U.S. and abroad. Contact him via email at: TasedWhileBlack@gmail.com

Tased While Black on Twitter

Two differing views

TWB publisher says: Now that the maker of the TASER is advising police officers to avoid shooting suspects in the chest with the 50,000-volt weapon, saying that it could pose an extremely low risk of an "adverse cardiac event." There will probably be more Taser Torture victims being shot in the back and in the head."

Marine Corps hand-to-hand combat instructor tough-guy is taken down by taser.

Stop the Electrocutions and Executions! (175px)

Jena 6 Tasered

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Factoid - What Is A Taser

A taser is an electroshock weapon that can stun a targeted subject from a distance by firing electrodes on the end of long thin wires. Read More HERE

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Laser-Related Deaths

No federal agency keeps track of injuries or deaths related to Taser usage. Amnesty International says since 2001 it has registered 270 "Taser-related deaths," or incidents in which a Taser was used prior to a suspect's death "but not deemed the primary cause of death by a coroner or medical examiner."